Epilogue
by Lady Salmakia
Summary: I just finished The Amber Spyglass. (Spoilers ahead!) I had to write this to comfort my little broken, hoplessly-romantic heart.


Author's Note: I finished The Amber Spyglass a few days ago, and I've barely stopped crying since. It was a great book, and it couldn't have ended any other way, but it made me soooooooooooooooooooooo sad! I had to sit there in chemistry and start this epilogue just to keep myself from bawling. I hope I got the characters right and such. Now I can be comforted.  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned His Dark Materials, I'd have figured out some way to keep them two together! (I'd also be a hell of a lot richer...) Don't sue me. No money. No point.  
  
  
It had been ten years...  
  
Will was a man grown. He was finishing college and just beginning to think about life ahead. If he'd stayed with Lyra, in her world, he'd have been dead, or nearly so. He tried not to think of Lyra often. It pained him still.  
  
But it was a sweet pain, and one he reserved to feel fully only once a year. And today, he was feeling it like a fresh-cut wound all over again. It was a deep pain, but a kind one. He cherished it. He cherished the promise he had made to her. Every year, he came to meet her. She was waiting for him. They were here together, in the exact same place, at the exact same time... a universe apart.  
  
This particular Midsummer Day was exquisitely hot. The heat fell like a blanket onto Will's sitting form. The midday sun blazed overhead not deflected by the tree at all. The fountain nearby ran quietly, gurgling a gentle lullaby. With the heat, the soft sound of water and his own poor foresight of eating a large meal, it was all Will could do to keep his eyes open.  
  
Despite himself, and his promise, Will fell asleep on the bench at the Botanic Gardens.  
  
  
Every year, Lyra sat by the fountain in the Botanic gardens. Midsummer Day, at midday, she let herself go there. She let herself really feel the torrent of emotions, the abandonment, the loneliness that had come with leaving Will behind. She missed him terribly. It was like a bruise on heart that would never go away. She never wanted it to.  
  
She had become a young lady of the intellectual world. She was bright enough from the start, but with age, she had become industrious and hard working. The roughness of her speech had smoothed over into a delicate, formal tongue. She kept herself clean, and didn't think twice about wearing a dress.  
  
She wondered if Will had changed so much too. She knew he would still be handsome, strong, but she wondered if his mannerisms had changed. She wondered if he spoke differently, or dressed differently. She wondered if he would still think she was pretty. That one was easy. Will would always think she was pretty, because they were truly in love. She wished she had never left his side, not for an instant.  
  
But that could not be changed now. She had a life to live in her own world, and she was doing a fine job of it. In fact, she had attended a formal, Midsummer's Eve party the night before. She hadn't slept until dawn. She was desperately tired, and the heat at the gentle sound of the nearby fountain overtook her senses.  
  
Despite herself, and her promise, Lyra fell asleep on the bench at the Botanic Gardens.  
  
  
Will found himself lying in a field. The air was warm, but a cool breeze played with the loose hair on his forehead. Kirjava was lying near his head. She was purring contentedly. Will closed his eyes against the midday sun, so high in the air.   
  
He had been here before, hadn't he? It was a meadow, and there was a grove of trees to his left. Big, tall trees, with trunks the size of several redwoods, towering into the clear blue sky. He heard the crunch of leaves as something fell out of a tree.  
  
It clicked for him.  
  
"Lyra!" He called, desperate to hear her voice. He knew she was here.  
  
"Will! Oh, Will! You're here!"   
  
Lyra was barreling over the grass to get to him, eager for his embrace, his voice, his breath in her hair.  
  
They met halfway up a gentle ridge, clasped tightly in each other's arms. Neither spoke for several minutes, but they were drinking each other in by other ways. The smell of her hair, the smoothness of her cheek, they quiet way she breathed, that was enough for Will. The way he held her close, the rugged smell, the intense eyes staring into hers, that was enough for Lyra.  
  
"Where are we, Will?"  
  
"I don't care. We're together."  
  
He kissed her. It was a kiss of true love and passion, as lovers who hadn't seen each other in a decade.  
  
"I think it's a dream," he said.  
  
"If this is a dream, I never want to wake up."  
  
"Neither do I."  
  
He took her by the hand and they walked down the ridge. She was different somehow, grown up and pretty. Her speech had lost its roughness, and she kept herself clean. He would never have imagined Lyra to grow up like this, but she had. She was a lady, and he loved her still. They walked to a little clump of bushes and trees. Inside was a stream, which lead onto several, fast whirlpools. They sat down together here, away from the heat of the sun, but not of each other.  
  
"I think we've been here before," said Will.  
  
"I think so too," Lyra said.  
  
In the middle of the grove was a sapling tree. It was perhaps ten years old, and it bore bright red fruit.  
  
"You don't suppose..."   
  
Lyra crawled over to the tree, keeping her foot in contact with Will, as if not letting go of him would keep her here forever. She plucked a fruit from the small tree, and crawled back to Will's side.  
  
"I think you're right," was all that Will said.  
  
Lyra broke off a little piece of the sweet flesh and delicately placed it in Will's mouth. It was no different than the first time she had done that. His eyes were still dark and full of pain, but it was pain accepted. He was taller and stronger than ever, but he was still Will. She would love him always.  
  
"This is the most real dream I've ever had," Lyra said.  
  
They were silent for a while again, just sitting close and popping pieces of the red fruit into the other's mouth, and for the first time, they were aware of their daemons. The marten and the cat were lying next one another in the grass, just being close and whispering the news their humans had not thought to speak of.  
  
"How do you suppose this happened? Were you sitting on the bench too?" Will asked.  
  
"I go there every year, Will. Every year, and it never gets less painful."  
  
"We must have fallen asleep together."  
  
"Together...in the same place, at the same time."  
  
They were silent again, delighting in the look of the other's eyes. Again they kissed. It was a less hurried gesture this second time. They were no longer children, or even adolescents. They were young adults, and they kissed like young adults do.  
  
"Do you think it was because we fell asleep at the same time, in the same place that we're dreaming together?" Lyra finally ventured.  
  
"I'm sure that's part of it, but I think we connected deeper than that. I think maybe because of the daemons..."  
  
"And maybe the witches! Maybe it's a witch's spell, and it will happen again. I haven't seen dear Serafina in so long."  
  
It was the first mention of the past in the entire dream.  
  
"I'd never ask for anything else if that were true," Will said quietly.  
  
"Me neither, Will! Nothing ever!"  
  
And so they got to talking. At first, they tried reminiscing about the past, but it only got them talking about how hard it was to be apart. So they talked of their lives. Will told Lyra that he was to finish college the next year. He was majoring in history. He didn't know what to do with that degree yet. He didn't know what to do with his life. He was nearly an adult, and he was so confused. His friends thought he was depressed, because of all the time he spent alone, and he was. He did get out sometimes, just because he had become more a part of his world since he'd returned to it. It was hard learning not to disappear into the crowd.  
  
Lyra told him about relearning the alethiometer. She was going to be the best reader ever, through her hard study and her original gift. College was difficult, but it was enjoyable. She'd made friends with girls her own age, and she had become part of a normal social circle, but part of her still loved running wild, and occasionally she'd slip off on her own. She'd run about in the streets, causing just a little chaos. She felt it was healthy, and Will completely agreed.  
  
Neither had dated. Will's friends had set him up on a few blind dates, as they were worried that he seldom got out. He had gone for fun, but he hadn't met anyone special. Lyra's situation was similar. She'd met other boys at parties, but not one had been right.  
  
They were quiet again after that. Will stretched himself out and lay his head in Lyra's lap. She ran her fingers through his hair. Oh! To stay like that forever would have been better than heaven for both of them.  
  
And the daemons wandered over. Pantalaimon settled himself into the curve of Will's chest. Kirjava competed with Will's head for space on Lyra's lap. Neither young woman nor young man thought twice about it. Touching the other's daemon was natural as breathing, yet it was electric. They felt really connected again. It was like being awake again after ten years of hibernation.  
  
Will pulled himself up. He knew the dream would not last forever and he wanted to speak, because he felt it drawing to a close.  
  
Looking straight into her eyes, he said to her, "Lyra, I love you. Try as I might not to think about you, I always do. You're like a spark in my mind that will never go out, and I think I would die if it ever did."  
  
"Oh, Will!" She exclaimed, looking straight back. "I always felt like you were a little place on my heart, but I think now that you're the whole thing!"  
  
They held each other tightly, knowing the end of the dream was near, each one wishing desperatly for it to last longer, but knowing it wouldn't. They wished, instead, that it would happen again one day.  
  
  
Lyra woke up on the bench. She could still feel the warmth of Will's arms around her body, and she knew that dreams do come true.  
  
A universe away, Will was looking up at the sun. It had traveled down the sky a little, and Will knew he had slept for an hour. He'd had a blessed hour with his Lyra.  
  
Both knew that they had finally learned to travel the universes the way the angels do. It was truer than pretend, and they knew Xaphania had given them the greatest gift of all. They could be with each other, really and truly, once a year. They could keep the promise made ten years ago.  
  
(Comments? Suggestions? Praise? Flames? Death Threats? Sequel? Death Threats for a Sequel? Put 'em in the little box!)  
  



End file.
